


and they were roommates!

by hiveblood



Category: Fire Emblem Heroes, Fire Emblem Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Background Relationships, But also, Character Death, Character Undeath, Gen, Original Summoner Character (Fire Emblem Heroes), aren't in this fic until maybe much later, but bruno and the summoner talk about them a lot. they're in love, by background i mean that while alfonse and sharena, my city now, on that note, there will be a lot of original characters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-18
Updated: 2019-09-25
Packaged: 2020-10-20 22:31:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20682992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiveblood/pseuds/hiveblood
Summary: ( oh my god, they were roommates. )it's been a little over a month since ingrid, summoner of askr, returned to earth after fulfilling her destiny and saving all of zenith. it's underwhelming and lonely, and all ingrid can do is wait for alfonse and sharena to find the gate that leads to her world, and trust they'll find her. that is, until two very familiar faces show up in her life again, one admittedly far more welcome than the other.what's a summoner, a prince, and a goddess to do while waiting to be found?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> so there's...a lot of canon divergence alongside my own headcanons about how heroes is going to end at play here. unless something in book four really catches my eye, i'm sticking to my guns, and we'll just...throw out whatever intsys gives us. at this point in time, i have no idea how i'm going to naturally cram in all the worldbuilding that'll give some moments more context - but i suppose i'll cross that bridge when i get to it. most likely i'll end up writing a series of oneshots based on summoner ingrid & her order of heroes, so keep an eye open for that!

_ “come on, bruno, i can’t do this without some help!” ingrid cried out, just narrowly dodging a blast of dark magic, diving behind a tipped over table and kicking snow up in the air, to give her hopefully just enough time to breathe- _

_ -but of course not, the dark god was relentless, and the more bruno tried fighting back, tried giving her some sort of opening to attack him while he was vulnerable, the more angry he got. _

_ a grunt left embla's prince, interrupting the god's shout, and he stumbled towards the summoner. ingrid tensed- he might be able to give her the opening she needed, but he also might try to strangle her again. _

_ “trying-” he grunts out, before doubling over in pain. he repeats himself, shouting this time as he grabs the table ingrid was hiding behind with enough strength to crush the part he’s holding. “trying!” he bellows, filling the too-small sitting room that the dark god had trapped her in to die. _

_ the table was thrown across the room, shattering against the wall, but bruno raised no hand against her. his eyes had gone from the unnatural emerald green of the dark god’s, to the deep scarlet that was his eye’s normal color. wide, afraid, and pleading, yes, but they were still his eyes. _

_ and so, without giving herself time to think twice, ingrid shoved the cursebreaker lance into bruno’s bare chest. _

_ the lance seemed to shine just then, the sunlight from the windows catching on the runes just right, and a blazing wind swept through the room, emanating from the lance. the powerful gust sent thing flying across the room- everything except the snow, which always remained. shoved into the heart of the dark god’s host, the cursebreaker did exactly as they’d planned it to do, and the wind carried it’s effects throughout the rest of zenith, freeing the rest of that cursed bloodline from the dark god once and for all. _

_ ingrid could only stand frozen as bruno’s hands came up to grasp the lance, pull it out of his chest, and then immediately collapsed, blood gushing out of his wound. ingrid dropped the lance to catch bruno, sinking down to her knees as the emblian prince turned to look at her. _

_ he coughed, blood dribbling down his chin, and then said, “come on. it’s time to wake up, ingrid.” _

_ “i- what?” the world around her seemed to stop, then waver. _

_ bruno repeated himself, this time in her father’s voice, “ingrid, it’s time to wake up!” _

* * *

“don’t make me say it a third time,” came daniel appleby’s voice from the other side of the door. ingrid sighed and rolled out of bed, knowing that he wouldn’t be happy until she got up to open the door...because in all honesty, unless she _ did _get out of bed, she would fall right back asleep. 

“i’m up, i’m up, i’m up,” she said, opening the door and nodding at her dad, who’s expression softened once he saw she was out of bed. “what time is it?”

“it’s almost eight, and you need to shower and get ready and go walk to work. your shift starts at nine thirty, right?” he asked, already starting his retreat down the hall back to the kitchen. 

“yeah,” she called out, before turning back into her room to grab clothes. no sooner had she opened her shirt drawer than her father spoke up again from the kitchen.

“actually, come eat breakfast first. i have to leave for work soon, and i don’t want you going to work on an empty stomach ** _again_ **,” he said, leaning out so ingrid could see in him from down the hall. he gave her his sternest look, which...wasn’t all that effective, truth be told. daniel appleby wasn’t exactly known for being stern in recent years.

“i’ve been getting better about that!” she protested, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she looked in the cabinet for her coffee mug. 

“you have been,” her father admitted, “but i- still. i had the time to make breakfast so i did. i made- ingrid, your coffee is already on the table.”

she turned around to find that yes, her coffee was already sitting on the table, along with the rest of her breakfast- the most noteworthy thing being a still warm cinnamon bun. she smiled as she sat down and began to eat. 

“did you sleep alright?” daniel asked as he started washing dishes, and the question turned ingrid’s smile into something more melancholy as she pulled apart the bun. 

“i had another nightmare,” she admitted. he could be forgiven for thinking she’d had a quiet, peaceful night, because unlike other times when she had nightmares, she hadn’t woken up screaming. 

( the question of who gunnthrá was, and why they were a recurring figure in his daughter’s nightmares still sat uncomfortably at the back of daniel’s mind, but the answer to that- and a few other questions he’d tried asking- were seemingly exempt from his daughter’s sudden overwhelming honesty. )

“do you want to talk about it?” he asked, looking over at her with a concerned expression. he knew she’d say no, unless it’d been about her mother, but dreams like that had become less and less common since ingrid had come home from the hospital over a month ago.

her expression changed, her mouth open, like she was trying to find the words to say _ something_, but with the smallest slumping of her shoulders, ingrid closed her mouth and shook her head. “nah. i can barely remember most of it anyway.”

that was really all she could say, wasn’t it? there was no easy way to tell him that she’d dreamt of the time when she’d had to fulfill her promise to her girlfriend’s best friend and kill him. there was no easy way to tell him any of what she’d experienced in askr, and while she did have some kind of proof, in the form of the photos she’d taken after they’d figured out how to use thunder magic to charge her phone… the thought of telling him still felt like a bad idea. 

for now she’d just wait. when sharena and alfonse finally found the gate that lead to earth, and she could travel freely between this world and theirs, then she’d tell him. 

she took a long sip of her coffee, and tried to push down all the doubts that gnawed at her- _ what if they couldn’t find the gate? what if she could never go back? what if they give up, and move on without her? _

she was so absorbed in her thoughts- and her attempts to push them aside- that she was quiet the rest of the time she was eating. she didn’t even notice when her father left the kitchen to get ready himself. 

“thanks for breakfast, dad,” ingrid said, getting up from the table, and only then realizing she was alone. she repeated herself, sticking her head out so she could shout down the hall. “dad- thanks for breakfast, and making the cinnamon rolls!”

a few moments later, daniel emerged from his bedroom, barefoot but otherwise ready for work. “you’re welcome; i… know you’ve been having a rough time lately, and i wanted to do something nice for you. i know they’re your favorite.”

ingrid hesitated. it was a sweet gesture, and she very much appreciated it, but... “dad... i’ve been doing better than i have been since- well, you know.”

“i know, it’s just- you’ve been having so many nightmares since you came home, and i know that withdrawing for the semester wasn’t easy on you, and you…” daniel, too, hesitated. he so badly wanted to say that ingrid was almost an entirely different person from who she’d been when she went into the hospital, and that her sudden shift in personality was...worrying to him, to say the least. how had his daughter changed so much, and why? 

“the nightmares- i’m fine, dad, really. they don’t bother me as much anymore,” ingrid replied, but they both saw through her words. “and as for college- its fine. i’ll...just go back next semester. or something.”

daniel’s mouth was set in a firm line, but he let out a sigh and nodded. “alright. let me wrap up a roll, so you can bring it with you. you should start getting ready.”

* * *

it was frustrating. 

ingrid was doing better than she had been in - well, for him it’d been a year, but for ingrid...well, she was in askr for four years, and then add on that first year- and not to mention that she got real closure while in hel; sure, her time had askr had brought with it it’s own baggage, and the fact that she missed all her friends certainly didn’t help, but- 

“-ingrid!” 

her train of thought was interrupted by the manager- zoe, a middle aged woman who was the most relaxed of the three managers at the gas station where ingrid worked. it was one of the fancier gas stations- it’d been rebuilt entirely a few years back, back when ingrid was in high school, and…

er, wait. that would have been just two years ago here, wouldn’t it?

“sorry, what did you need?” she said, shaking the cobwebs from her head. 

zoe gave her a look that wasn’t quite a smile, but still gave off the warmth of one, and said, “i said that i need you to bring in two heavy boxes for me, and then you can go on break.”

“oh- yeah, sure.” 

ingrid found the fact that she’d quickly become known for her strength at this new job to be hilarious, really. her stocky build made her look chubby more than anything else, but she’d built up muscle during her time in askr from training and combat, and because of that muscle she’d built up, most of her coworkers asked to swap tasks with her when it came time to stocking heavier stuff or helping unload the supply trucks faster. 

as she helped zoe out, ingrid felt her phone buzz in her pocket- at first indicating that someone was trying to call her, then that they’d left a voicemail, and a third time, which ingrid could only assume was someone sending her at text. a stab of anxiety went through her- the only person she could think of that would call her is her father, and he never called her while either of them were at work unless it was a serious emergency. 

she finished the job for zoe as fast as possible, and quickly retreated into the break room, where she pulled out her phone. to her immense relief, it wasn’t her father. no, instead it was her neighbor, who lived in the apartment downstairs- an older woman named eleanor, who ingrid would sometimes carry in groceries for when she was home. 

when she looked at the text, ingrid felt her heart stop in her chest.

> `a polite young man was outside the building, ringing your doorbell. he said his name was bruno and it was very important that he see you as soon as possible, so i told him you worked at the gas station just down the street. i hope that’s alright’`

ingrid flopped down in a chair, utterly dumbfounded. there was only one person she knew named bruno, and she’d killed him herself. she’d held him in his final moments, she’d attended his funeral. 

prince bruno of the emblian empire was dead. 

and yet. and **_yet_**, he was the only person she could think of that eleanor could possibly mean. her heart, which had frozen when she’d first seen the text, was pounding in her chest now. ingrid’s voicemail menu now sat open, eleanor’s message at the top, but she could do nothing but stare at the screen blankly, mouth hanging open. 

then, the electronic bell sound that accompanied the door opening carried through to her place in the break room, and ingrid was suddenly spurred into motion, outright sprinting to the front of the store, right behind the counter and, and, and-

and there he stood. bundled up in a heavy blue winter coat, with a gust of snowflakes following him in- prince bruno of the emblian empire, very much alive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope this first chapter has intrigued you! there's a lot that's gone unexplained for now- that'll come next chapter, as bruno and ingrid try to figure out what the hell is going on. thank you for reading, and please consider leaving a comment!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the more ingrid said it, the more confident she felt in it. they were going to get home. they were going to get back to zenith.
> 
> bruno's hands moved so that the back of them were on the table, and he could hold her hands back. she could see it in his eyes now- a glimmer of hope.

"what the ** _fuck_**_!_" it was out before ingrid realized she said it, and her words sounded even louder in the most empty gas station,even with music playing. 

zoe's head snapped around to give ingrid a sharp look, and opened her mouth to say something, but ingrid just shook her head and said, “it’s okay, i know him. er, well, i mean- is it okay if i sit out here for my break and talk to him?”

zoe’s look softened into a frown, and but she just shrugged and said, “fine, but just don’t swear at our customers like that again- even if you do know them.”

“right, right.” it was a struggle to resist the urge to run around the counter to meet bruno, who was taking off a pair of sunglasses, and stuffing them into one of the many pockets on his winter coat. 

“ingrid, i-” she cut him off, throwing her arms around him in a hug. the snow that clung to his coat quickly melted and soaked into her shirt- it was freezing, which shouldn’t have come as a surprise, but did nonetheless.

“holy shit, dude,” she whispered, resting her chin on his shoulder. tears welled up as a mix of emotions took hold in her chest- the primary one among them being relief. “you’re ** _alive_**.”

it was only then that ingrid realized that bruno had stiffened when she hugged him, because once she spoke, he relaxed and hugged her back, melting like snow into the embrace.

“i am,” he said, with no small amount of awe in his words, as if it was really sinking in for the first time that he was real, that he was here. “i’m alive.”

they stayed like that for a while, until zoe let out an loud cough, and they were both brought back to reality- one where each of them was full of questions for the other. holding each other at arm’s length, the two both took in a deep breath.

“let’s get you some lunch, and then we can talk about - well, i guess we can talk until my break is over,” ingrid said, pulling her phone out to check the time. 

in the end, they wound up sitting at one of the three tables in the station, all pressed up against the windows. a silence had fallen over them as bruno took bites of the mac and cheese from premade section, next to the hot dogs, pizza, soup and hot drinks- the longer it went on, the harder it felt to break. 

but it did have to be broken, and soon, because ingrid’s break wasn’t going to last forever, and she wanted answers to at least a few of her million questions. 

“how... how are you here?” she asked at last. “how- bruno, how are you alive?”

his shoulders sagged as he replied, “i was hoping you could tell me that. i thought- i assumed, that i was here because you summoned me.”

“summoned you?” ingrid repeated, brows furrowing. 

“i know you’ve summoned heroes after their death before, and i assumed it was the same for me,” bruno admitted. “when i got to this world, and you were nowhere to be found...well, it certainly cast doubt on that theory. but it was all i had to go off on.”

she shook her head. “no- if you were summoned here, somehow, then it wasn’t by me. you...wouldn’t know this, but breidablik’s magic was used up when we stopped ragnarok. er - transformed it, would probably be a better word. but...yeah. breidablik’s magic ran out, and i was sent back here.”

there was a lot for bruno to take in, despite how short ingrid’s explain was. he’d assumed that they’d stop the dark god that possessed him, and the other old gods from starting ragnarok and seeing it through to the end, but how on earth the order had managed to _ transform _ it ( and transform it into ** _what_****_?_** ) was beyond him. 

but the most important thing he could glean from her explanation was- “so you don’t know how to get back to zenith.”

all of the miles he’d walked in this unfamiliar world just to get to her, just to get back home...and she was just as trapped here as he was.

“no,” ingrid admitted, averting her eyes. she looked as miserable about it as bruno felt. “i... sharena said that she’d find me, that she wouldn’t give up on finding the gate to my world, so...i’ve just been holding onto hope. and waiting. it’s about all i can do, really.”

she remembered clearly the way sharena’s fingers interlaced with hers as she felt herself fading out of zenith, untethered from the world now that breidablik’s magic was spent. 

_ ‘i’ll find you!’ _ sharena had said, tears in her eyes. _ ‘i swear it! i love you, and i’ll never stop looking for you, no matter how many worlds i have to search!’ _

what else could ingrid do but believe in her? what else could ingrid do but place her hopes right next to her heart in sharena’s hands?

“so all we can do is wait,” bruno said, snapping her out of her thoughts. 

ingrid nodded. “unless you know a way home, then all we can do is wait.” 

another silence fell over them, and ingrid started fidgeting with the necklace normally hid under her shirt. there was so much she wanted to ask, so much she wanted to talk about, but this wasn’t the right place for it, nor did they have time to discuss everything.

“what are you going to do?” she asked, hand gently clasping the charm holder on her necklace. “until...well, until they find us, i guess. do you have anywhere to go? how long have you been on earth, anyway?”

“no, i- like i said, i...assumed you brought me here. or you’d be able to get me back home,” bruno said, shaking his head. “i was pinning my hopes on that.”

pinning his hopes on _ her_. 

the weight of another person’s hopes upon her shoulders was a heavy weight, but a familiar one. she’d carried so many, for so long, as the summoner. she could carry bruno’s now, surely, until they were found. 

“alright, here’s what we’re gonna do,” ingrid said, stretching her neck and rolling her shoulders. “you’ll stay with me until alfonse and sharena find us, or- hell, the gate has to exist in both worlds, right? so maybe we can find it in this world.”

bruno seemed to relax at her barebones plan, but still frowned and said, “finding the gate wouldn’t help us, though. i wouldn’t be able to open it even if we did find it.”

“we’ll...cross that bridge when we get to it. at least if we find it, we can leave them some sort of note on where we are, y’know? and when they get here and start looking for us-”

“for _you_,” bruno said, cutting her off. 

“w-what?” she replied, brow furrowing.

“when they start looking for you,” he clarified, scarlet eyes looking out the window. “they’re not looking for me. to them, i’m dead. no one’s looking for me. they’re grieving me, and when they’re done they’ll move on without me.”

how was ingrid supposed to reply to that? he wasn’t wrong, and she wasn’t sure how he’d respond to reassurances that they somehow wouldn’t move on. ingrid knew that with grief, everyone did move on eventually, even if you fought against it, kicking and screaming.

she put her hands over his, which were currently holding a styrofoam cup of tea, causing him to look her in the eyes once more. something ingrid had only found out during that awful battle against him was that, as stoic as the rest of his face could be, bruno’s ruby red eyes were always full of emotion; and they certainly mirrored the anxiety and fear he was feeling now.

“i can’t..._ fully _ understand how you feel,” she said slowly, picking her words carefully. “but i...i’m scared too. i’m terrified that she’ll give up, and i’ll spend the rest of my life waiting with baited breath for sharena to come sweep me off my feet and bring me back to askr...and never actually live my life here on earth. i get being afraid, bruno. but...we’re going to get home. one way or another, we’re gonna make it home.”

the more ingrid said it, the more confident she felt in it. they were going to get home. they were going to get back to zenith.

bruno's hands moved so that the back of them were on the table, and he could hold her hands back. she could see it in his eyes now- a glimmer of hope. 

“do you really think so?” he asked, his voice quiet. 

she nodded, a genuine grin spreading itself across her face. “i do. i really, really do. and even if they can’t find us, then i’ll just find a way to get us back home. _ we’ll _find a way get back home. just...trust me, yeah?”

bruno nodded once slowly, then again, more sure of himself. “yeah- yeah. we’ll do this together. we’ll find a way home together.”

“yeah! you and me; we can do this. i know we can,” ingrid said. it was funny- she’d meant to cheer him up, to give him some hope- but in the end, her own spirits were sent soaring. gone was the melancholy that had clung to her ever since she’d gotten home from the hospital, despite her best efforts to power through it. 

well, it was gone for _ now _. she knew, even if they did find a way home on their own, it wasn’t going to be overnight, and the melancholy and longing might settle in again.

but right now wasn’t the time to think about any of that! right now was-

“ingrid!” zoe called, from the other end of the station.

right now was the end of her break, it would seem. 

“okay- you...stay here,” ingrid said, slipping out of her seat. 

“wait, for how long?” bruno asked, brows furrowed. 

“uh...till my shift’s over, i guess. a bunch of old guys sit here and read the paper and talk for hours in the morning- i don’t think they’ll have a problem if you do. and if you want something more to eat, just come to me and i’ll pay for it,” ingrid said, slowly taking steps backwards. “i’m sorry i don’t have anything, like, a book or something, but-”

“it’s alright, i’ve got something to work on,” bruno said, taking off his coat and revealing a bookbag that ingrid hadn’t seen before. 

“alright, cool,” was the last thing she said before turning and going back to work.

the rest of her shift seemed to inch by, and ingrid didn’t get a chance to speak to bruno again, except for when he got another cup of tea. she’d stood on her tippy toes a few times, to see if she could see what bruno was doing- it seemed like he had a three subject notebook, and a pack of color pens. as for whether he was writing or drawing- it almost looked like a mix of both.

she’d have to ask him about it when they were walking home. 

it was then that ingrid realized the glaring oversight she’d made in making all these plans; she’d failed to take her father into account. how on earth was she supposed to explain bruno’s presence without letting slip everything else about askr?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2/3 of the roommate au trio reunited! unfortunately, we probably won't be seeing loki for a little while yet- or WILL we >:3c 
> 
> we're inching deeper into my bigger canon divergences for heroes, but i hope that everything more or less makes sense at this point. if it doesn't- feel free to let me know! you can find me at @valorskills on twitter! though there might also be spoilers for the fic there, because i do tend to ramble about this fic...a lot. 
> 
> anyways, please leave a comment and let me know what you think!


End file.
